The Longing of the Oracle, 2024

The Longing of the Oracle is an archival anthology of analogue photography documenting a cycle of annual writing rituals.

The artwork investigates the "gap" between language and speech—the silent, introspective space connecting our internal worlds to the outside. In this archive, longing is the thread that, once untangled, becomes a ladder to cross previously unbridgeable distances.

The narrative begins with a faery queen in a tower, representing the soul’s internal wisdom. During the monthly Longing Writuals, participants address these walls to create a vessel for Her voice. This manuscript is written with many voices; it is an invitation to listen to longing, share wisdom, and engage with the poetry of the soul.

The project originated from Maria Stella’s graduation thesis, Endingbeginning, at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

Maria Stella’s graduation thesis is a research on lamentation and the word "longing," written in a lyrical and braided style to reflect the essence of lamentation. Include examples of artists who work with the word "longing," as well as historical references to the last oracle of Pythia, which will serve as a central point for the research on longing and the meaning of an oracle.